Sunday, December 5, 2010

"Brokerage Leases Office in Jersey City,"by David M. Halbfinger,

In a coda to a government-subsidized deal that lured a foreign exchange company, Exco Noonan, to Manhattanfrom Jersey City, another New York company has taken over the office space that Exco Noonan abandoned in Jersey City.
Spear Leeds & Kellogg, the New York brokerage house, has more than doubled the space occupied by its Troster Singer division at 10 Exchange Place, the sharp-tipped tower on the Jersey City waterfront, with the lease of nearly 50,000 square feet that is being vacated by Exco Noonan. Troster Singer, a market maker on the Nasdaq stock exchange, had occupied only 36,000 square feet in the building, which is owned by the Prudential Insurance Company.
Troster Singer, which was represented by Cushman & Wakefield, has been at 10 Exchange Place for seven years. In 1994, when Spear Leeds, the parent brokerage, threatened to move its 700 workers to Jersey City, New York officials granted it $2.4 million in tax breaks. The company moved to 120 Broadway instead. The tax incentives included $500,000 that was dependent on the company's hiring additional workers in New York.

Exco Noonan, a division of Exco P.L.C., said on Aug. 14 that it would move its 219 workers to the World Trade Center in return for $6.3 million in incentives from city and state agencies. Exco Noonan, which was represented by Jones Lang Wootton, assigned its lease at 10 Exchange Place to Troster Singer.
DAVID M. HALBFINGER